Latent Maturity
by Cabixan
Summary: In Altamira the group when they are enjoying themselves at the Night Resort. As Sheena suddenly disappears Lloyd goes goes off searching for her and when he finds her she has a disturbing truth to tell that involves why Colette is acting strange. Sheloyd


Yay, a Sheloyd one-shot. I worked quite hard on this so I hope you like it.

Oh, review please~ Even though you can just think of one word to say, it would really make me happy if you wrote something.

Ah, and please no flames or couple bashing like:

'ZomFg, your story suxxorz!'

Or…

'I think Colloyd is better.'

Please notify me as well if you find this story on another site than and under another account! I'll burn those stealing bastards'balls then when I get them...

Eh... anyways, enjoy~

* * *

"Another card, baby! Hit it!" Zelos said cheerfully.

The female dealer turned over a card face-up and looked at it. "23, sorry sweetie."

"Go'w! So close!" He slammed his fist down on the table. He then dug up some more Gald from his pockets and then placed it on the table. "Alright baby, one more go!"

"Hey, Zelos, why can't I play?"

"Shut it Lloyd," Zelos said as he pushed away a leaning Lloyd away from him, "I'm telling you, she's totally in to me and you're cramping my style!"

Lloyd tossed his chin to his shoulder, loose brown hair locks swaying with the force of his hasty movement, "But why can't I play?" Lloyd asked in a whiny tone.

"Gambling isn't for kids. You'll just have to wait until you're older and can handle the responsibility that comes with having money burning in you pockets!"

He first looked confused, _'That doesn't sound quite right…'_ but decided that he wasn't in the mood to either pursue that thought or talk with Zelos any further so he just sighed and jumped down from the seat. Without any words of good bye to Zelos he turned his heals and headed straight for the door. The door made a small rasping sound as Lloyd pushed the door open he heard a soft female laughter. He looked in the direction of where it came from and saw a very familiar blonde girl sitting next to his best friend and someone's dog. Typical Colette… She was like Zelos when it came to attracting people but instead of people it was dogs and she was also a lot more kind and innocent. Even though Lloyd didn't have a real hunch about what Zelos was really doing with these women he referred as his hunnies he just didn't have the energy to track the truth so he just assumed that he was playing tag with them or something.

Genis was wiping his face thoroughly as Colette was laughing at him. When she spotted the swordsman she gave him a sweet smile as she waved with her hand for him.

"Lloyd! Hi, what are you going?" she said cheerfully.

"Ah, I was just thinking about heading back and rest up for a little," Lloyd answered, less enthusiastic as the blonde.

Genis was now finished with wiping away whatever was on his face and looked at Lloyd with big annoyingly curious, but innocent, blue eyes, "Huh? That's not like you Lloyd! Usually you run around like some stuck-up kid and goes to bed one hour before you have to get up."

Lloyd looked a bit annoyed, "Hey! Who are you calling a kid?"

Both of his friends laughed at Lloyd's determination to be treated like an adult. But that only made the 17-year old teen seem more arrogant and childish than mature.

"By the way, have you guys seen Sheena? I haven't seen her at all since we got to Altamira..."

Lloyd thought he saw Colette flinching at the mention of the other girl's name, but decided that it was probably just his imagination.

"Ah, I think I saw her pass by recently coming from the direction of the Katz Theatre," Genis tapped on his cheek as he thought. "If she's not in the casino that would mean she had probably just headed back to the hotel."

"That's strange," Lloyd said, "I mean, this is could like be our last night together, so why would she withdraw from everyone now?"

"Maybe something upset her?" Genis suggested. Fortunately for her Lloyd was far too trusty of his childhood friend that he didn't suspect her of doing anything wrong. Lloyd sighed and waved away Genis' implication with his hand, "Bah, Sheena doesn't get upset over small things. She just reacts and growl at them before she decides to ignore them. She would only leave if it was something really serious."

"Well, if you say so. Who knows after all, no one seems to have seen or been with her this whole evening." Genis waved his hand back at Lloyd before turning away and returning to the drooling dog they were playing with earlier. Lloyd snatched the collar of Genis' shirt from behind and forced him to hold his position.

"...What just you said really makes me worried now. If you see her, please tell her to meet me in to hotel, ok?"

"Yeah sure," Genis said, going back to the giddy dog that once again drowned the boy with its saliva.

"L...Lloyd, wait!"

He turned around and saw Colette standing in her signature posture with her hands clasped together. "Ah, uhm... Why don't you hang out with me and Genis instead of heading back? You might spot Sheena from here. I... this could be our last night when we're all together, I don't want you to miss that out... "

He smiled at her and placed his hand on her left shoulder, "Thanks Colette, I appreciate the thought but I have to admit, I am a bit tired. I'll just have a quick rest at the hotel and then I'll come back and hang out with you guys, ok?"

"Okay!" Genis said in a joyful tone whilst trying to keep the dog from climbing up on him and cover his face with saliva.

Colette nodded quietly but as Lloyd was heading for the lift that went down to the dock he heard something she murmured quietly which sent cold shivers down his spine.

"...that pathetic nymphet..."

As Lloyd boarded the monorail that was heading back to Altamira's entrance he couldn't shake off that thought that had crawled in to his head about Colette.

Was Colette really feeling odium of Sheena?

And if so, why did she feel that way?

It was really nothing like her.

She, Colette, An angel wandering the planet always keeps a radiant smile on her face that can heal the loneliest souls... jealous of a friend?

He gazed on the moon's reflection on the water as he tried to think about something else. But the image of his blonde friend whispering those three words so full of hate was burned in to his mind. She had looked like a completely different person with her head tilted down so her bangs completely covered her eyes and her stiff posture with her fists clenching on either side of her body. She murmured something but only three words made their way to his ears from her clenching teeth. Those three words he heard were echoing in his head.

'_...that pathetic nymphet...'_

Even jealousy could taint the most innocent angel.

Tilting his head back and rubbing his forehead. A troubled Lloyd entered the hotel and walked straight to the elevator only greeting the cheerful receptionist with a simple wave.

As he stepped out from the elevator he spotted a woman standing outside his hotel room. He first noticed the familiar black hair that was usually tied up messy but still adding quite a charming feature. As he realized who it was he also noticed that the only thing she was wearing was a towel. And she wasn't exactly wearing it per se, it was more wrapped around her and he couldn't stop gawking at her figure that she was quite famous for as she slightly bent her back to use the card key to get in to the hotel room but still holding the towel at the front with her other free hand so it wouldn't slip down. When she tilted her head in his direction he couldn't avert his eyes from her face. It looked so different with all the hair strands of her bangs hanging down instead of being neatly placed to the side.

"Oh, hey Lloyd. I just came out of the shower and remembered that I forgot my obi in the joined hotel room."

That sentence sent some embarrassing and perverted thoughts in to the brunette's head. He wasn't used to having these kinds of thoughts and blamed Zelos for making him having these distorted thoughts about his female friend.

"Ah..." Lloyd forced out from himself as he tried to look at other things in the hallway so he wouldn't stare at her. Seeing too much of her skin made him feel nervous and the knots in his stomach didn't exactly help him.

Sheena noticed Lloyd's stare wandering from different directions but specifically avoiding her. He acted nervously, with both his hands behind his neck and with a crimson red blush on his cheeks. Sheena thought that the blushing must be contagious as she felt the warmth spread on her face as well. A part of her grew annoyed for knowing what he must be thinking of when she told him that she had just came out of the shower. The other part of her wanted to believe in that childlike innocence he had that she had prayed for him to keep clean and not be infected by that pervert Zelos. That thought woke an old memory stuffed far back in her head. As that thought rose to her consciousness it scared her. The thought that he was still considered as a child, she knew that well for she thought so too. She sent out signals that hinted on the feelings she felt for him and hoped for him to understand. But he didn't seem to pick up on them and broke their moments with stupid reasons such as being tired like he said when they we're on the Princess's dinner party when they stood there on the terrace. They had first exchanged compliments on each others clothing and how well it looked on them before Lloyd said that he was tired and wanted to go down. Sheena had silently cursed Lloyd in her head for cutting their 'moment' on the terrace as she walked around with him that night. But his smiles towards her and him repeatedly saying her name settled down her irritation. Though at the end of the night when she was lying in her bed at Zelos's mansion she thought that he might still not be ready for something other than friendship. Lloyd had said a few nights before in Flanoir that they could become great friends. When he said that she felt her heart sink, for she had placing her hopes very high. He was after all two years younger than herself, but when later he admitted that he wanted to be with her too, she decided to place her hopes at bay and wait until he would be considered old enough to understand that trust and feelings towards each other as well as the physical attraction that came along with it. That was what she had hoped. For him to love her too.

He dried away invisible sweat drops with his arm and spoke up after a long silence, "Uhm? Sheena...?"

Sheena let out a small yelp as she was jolted back into reality where she was standing awkwardly with only a towel in front o her crush. If she hadn't realized that she was only wearing a towel she would've been more embarrassed over that weird sound she had just let out. The sight of Lloyd had instantly lifted up her spirits so she just forgot about the situation she was in.

"You were kind of... quiet... there. Uh, was it something I did, or said?" He looked both confused and concerned as he scrambled the words in his heads into a sentence that would sound good enough to be said and make sense.

A dart of guilt hit Sheena in her heart as she looked in to the eyes of the person she cared about so much that had just filed an allegation towards himself for doing something wrong. She felt pressure on herself as she had to stop him for blaming himself.

"No! What made you think I would exaggerate about you gawking at me and thinking about me in the shower!?"

Both of them remained silent after both realized what words that had just escaped from her mouth. Lloyd's face turned more and more into the colour of a tomato and then turned his heel to her for feeling too embarrassed to even look at her.

'_Was it r__eally so obvious that I was staring and... GACK! She must hate me now... she's going to treat me like Zelos for having those kinds of thoughts...'_ That thought delivered a sharp pain in his stomach where the knots sat.

The floor apparently became so very fascinating for both of them so neither could tear their eyes away from it.

"...What's an obi?" Lloyd then suddenly asked.

Surprised from the question she stayed quiet a few more seconds before answering.

"It's a piece of clothing that serves like a belt. It's traditional in Mizuho that you have a strap of clothing around your waist to keep your yukata, a kind of jacket, in place. And then you tie your obi in different kinds of ribbons and such..."

"Oh, you're talking about that pink ribbon around your waist? I just thought it was some kind of... ornament..." Lloyd said, still not looking at her. "Now when you mentioned it... The women in Mizuho did have some kind of fabric belt around their waist. But their yukata or whatever-it-was-called jacket was longer than yours..."

Sheena carefully looked up at Lloyd, "Well, how do you expect me to fight in those fancy clothes?"

"Oh, yeah, guess that was a stupid statement..."

"Lloyd..." she then said in a serious tone.

He turned around and looked at her. Her eyes locked on those brown eyes that had a childlike innocence gleaming within them but also radiant with pure determination.

"Why are you here?"

"Huh?"

"Why are you here? Why aren't you at the Night Resort enjoying yourself?

"Uh... well, I..." Lloyd began but stopped to think of something to say. "I returned for just a quick rest. Nothing really exciting was going on anyways."

Sheena noticed his posture, he was leaning slightly back, looking in another direction and with both his hands behind his neck. He was so lying and it was her job to expose those lies.

"Oh really?" Sheena said, looking a bit sinister, "I swear I saw you earlier tonight with Zelos and you two were practically beaming with anticipation..."

He put down one of his hands and scratched his neck with the other hand that was left behind, "Ah, well... uhm, yeah. But that was until he told me that I was too young for gambling..."

"Gambling?" Sheena asked and looked suspiciously at him. His cheeks turned pink as he looked down on to the floor, "It looked fun. Those giant machines where you insert a coin and pull the lever down... and then looking at those three spinning wheels and hope that they match when they stop spinning..."

Sheena groaned._ 'This guy really is a kid. He probably thought that the slot machines were some kind of toy...'_

"Are you talking about the one-armed bandits?" she asked in a sceptical tone.

"Wh...What? Bandits with one arm? Who, where?" He asked with an astonished look on his face.

Sheena laughed, "Heheh! That's another name for the slots you country bumpkin!"

"Hey, don't make fun of me!" he pouted at her. "And why did you have to pick that insult up from Zelos?"

They both joined up in laughter but as it slowly died out they remained standing there in silence. They exchanged a couple of looks as they waited for the other to speak up. Then after a while Lloyd decided to break the silence.

"Why weren't... why aren't you at the Night Resort enjoying yourself with the rest of the gang?"

"Well I… I just came back for a quick rest and a shower. I planned that after that I would sneak to the closed off beach and watch the waves or have a drink on the balcony."

"That sounds nice. Maybe I could tag along as well!"

"Heheh…" Sheena giggled before turning quiet and staring at the floor.

"Ah, wh-what's wrong?" Lloyd asked with concern in his voice.

Sheena looked up from the floor, "Ah, no, it's nothing. Don't worry so much about me Lloyd!" she said and gave him a fake smile.

"Come on, don't lie. You're a terrible liar and it's going to take more than a laugh to fool me," he said, "Talk to me, Sheena!"

"Lloyd…"

He smiled, "I'm going out to the balcony. Would you like to accompany me?"

"…Sure," she answered, "I just gonna go and change first."

"R-right…" Lloyd answered as his face turned red once again, "You're still only wearing a t-t-towel…"

"Doesn't this bring back memories?"

Lloyd turned around and saw Sheena approach him from the other side of the room. She had her hair down as it had not yet dried from the shower.  
"Wha?" he answered looking a bit confused, "I… I'm sorry, but I don't remember us standing here before…"

"You dork!" she chuckled, "I'm talking about that time in Flanoir."

"Oh… I see. How could I forget? It's because of what I said that night that makes me wonder why we're still here wasting time."

"Oh really?" She stretched her arms up in the air and then placed them on the balcony rail, "I kinda agree with Zelos that we should be doing this."

"Really?" Lloyd asked, "That's rare, you agreeing with Zelos I mean."

"Yeah. Despite knowing that we should try to get this whole mess over with as soon as possible, we don't really know what tomorrow holds for us. That's why we should spend time like this together now when we still can and just… enjoy ourselves…"

He nodded slowly, "When you put it that way it sounds right. Maybe I should try to cool down a little and try to live in the present instead of rushing towards the future."

"Heheh, is it even possible to cool you down, hot-headed country bumpkin?"

"Hey! I told you to stop calling me that!" Lloyd said. "It's enough with having Zelos calling me that!"

Sheena laughed, "I can only imagine…"

They stood there in silence for a while as they watched the dark horizon where hours earlier there was a red-orange orb sinking down into oblivion. Altamira's day beauty was only rivalled by the nocturnal one. From the top of the hotel you could see all of the different areas of Altamira shine up from the darkness with sparkling lights and the hovering moon reflecting its light unto the water.

"Why did you return to the hotel?" Lloyd suddenly asked.

"Huh?"

He repeated himself, "Why did you return to the hotel? If you liked the idea of enjoying ourselves together for one more night why did you go wandering by yourself?"

"I already told you," she said. "I was just heading back for a quick rest and a shower."

"And I've already established that it was a lie," he sighed and shook his head, "Just tell me the truth already!"

She cringed and clenched her fists, "I…I'm not lying, okay! Gosh, what do you want, Lloyd? I'm not in the mood to argue with anyone right now, ok?!"

"The Sheena I know wouldn't go around hiding things from me!" Lloyd suddenly spat out. "It's not like you to recede like that so why…--"

"Lloyd, you worry too much," Sheena interrupted him, "I'm fine, just a little tired but fine. I was going to head back after the rest."

"You're lying," Lloyd said in a flat voice, "You said that you were either going to the closed off beach or having a drink on the balcony."

She sighed, "Ok, so what? Maybe something happened back there, does it really matter? I'll be fine after collecting my thoughts so…"

"Does it involve Colette?"

Sheena stopped her sentence immediately after hearing her name. Hair strands landed in the wrong place as she turned her head.

"H…How did you know?"

"I didn't," Lloyd answered, "It was a guess."

"But…"

"When I decided to go and look for you I ran in to Colette and Genis on my way out. Colette was acting really weird today. She was especially weird whenever I said your name or talked about why you could've left."

She sighed, "You're quite the detective, Lloyd…"

He scratched his neck, looking embarrassed, "Ah, n-not really… But… we're you guys fighting or something?"

"No, we were just talking. Although, I admit that it wasn't feeling so very friendly. I would actually rather call it a threatening…"

"What were you guys talking about?"

"Heh… It's kinda embarrassing but…" She put a hair strand behind her ear and looked him in the eye, "…we were talking about you."

"Me?" Lloyd said in shock and took a step back, "Wh… Why?"

"Well, I told you that it was a little embarrassing," she said, "Anyway, she technically just told me to stay away from you."

"Why?" Lloyd said again, with the same tone as before. _'It feels old already,'_ he thought and smacked himself on his forehead. "Are you jealous of her or is it the other way around?" he added quickly.

"I'm not jealous of her! And didn't you know?" Sheena said whilst shifting her position so her back was leaning towards the balcony rail, "She… She really likes you. Colette I mean."

"... I…"

"I am apparently some kind of threat to your relationship so she asked me to stay away from you but I mean, hello, we're a team right? I have the right to hang out with whoever I want to, right?"

"Sheena…"

She then walked forward and pressed herself unto him, "Why shouldn't I? I-I like you too…"

He patted her on her head, "Hey, don't be sad, I… I like you too, you know."

She then moved away from him and placed her elbows on the balcony rail, "Right, of course you do. After all, you have to like someone on some degree for one to count as a friend."

"Wait, Sheena! I think you're not getting the point."

"What point?" she said, looking quite faint-hearted.

"Uhm," Lloyd was now looking in another direction, "I like you more than just a friend."

"Oh, of course, like you said in Flanoir, a great friend."

Lloyd groaned of irritation for Sheena being so thick-headed. He grabbed her shoulders and pulled her closer to him. As his eyes said that he was totally serious, his face said that he was nervous. He then let go of his lower lip that had gotten slightly redder from his bite and showed away the last parts of uncertainty in his mind.

"I'm usually the thick-headed one," he began, realizing that it wasn't really the best way to start a confession with, "But as it turns out you seem to have taken my place tonight. So I just gonna come out with it straight…"

He paused and tried to keep his eyes focused and locked unto her as he felt his knees going weak as well as his mind sway in different directions.

"I think I love you, no, most definitely in love with you."

Sheena remained silent as she was in shock, until her consciousness finally returned from wandering around aimlessly in the sky. "Think?" was the only thing she got out of her.

Lloyd began to panic, "Ah, no! I-I'm absolutely positive that I'm in love with you and… you know… it would be nice if…those feelings of love were mutual… you know…"

His voice was almost impossible hear in the end.

"They are you know," she said and slid her arms under his and grabbed his shoulders. "They are… But… I thought you liked Colette, I guess I was wrong then."

Lloyd's face turned even more red of feeling her body heat as it was almost impossible to stammer out his next sentence, "Auhm, s-so what n-now?"

"Well…" she said in a bit teasing tone and slid her arms down around his waist, "What do you want to do now?"

"Ickgh…" Lloyd made a very strange noise that sounded like he was holding back a high-pitched scream while being chocked. He then gathered his lost courage and moved his face closer to hers. She tried not to laugh at his somewhat pained face expression.

He was obviously shy as he had difficulties with keeping eye-contact with her and wanting to hide his flushed face. He tried to swallow the panic, but with his mouth dry it was really hard to swallow anything. She closed her eyes making Lloyd feel a little better with not having to keep eye contact though being scared of not being good enough haunted him in his thoughts. He slowly moved forward towards her and before he reached his target he halted his actions abruptly.

Sheena slowly opened her eyes and saw Lloyd nervously biting his thumbnail.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

It was even more obvious in the moonlight than inside in the hallway, he was blushing furiously. He took a deep breath and looked at while smiling nervously, "I... I'm sorry, Sheena. I-I'm just not ready for anything like this..."

Sheena first looked out on the view of Altamira until she tilted her head down in shame and stared down on the street below them. "Ah, of course… You don't have to if you don't want to."

'_He's still not ready… He's still just a child… Is this what happens if you fall in love with someone younger than yourself?'_

With the awkward silence suffocating them both Sheena decided that it would be the best for both of them if she broke it.

"Actually, I would lie if I said I wasn't even a little jealous of Colette…"

Lloyd looked at her, "What, why?"

"When I first meet you, you were so protective and caring of Colette that it was obvious that you were really close. What I like about you Lloyd is that you're so kind and earnest, and that's probably why I felt like I could trust you so easily. We're both kinda alike, both are hot-headed and stubborn, that's why we would agree on quite a lot of things.

I became anxious with this strange trust and the fact that I saw you as a friend was… unsettling…"

"Sheena…"

"But the fact that I was troubled by the fact that I actually trusted someone more than Corrine was fleeting," She sighed, "But… the more disturbing embarrassment was that I…"

She timidly tried to look him in the eyes but swiftly broke the eye-contact as she noticed that he was looking at her too.

"What, Sheena?" he asked with a concerned tone in his voice.

She then looked up once again and maintained a steady look at him.

"I… I was really starting to take a liking to you, Lloyd…I was jealous of Colette because you shared an unbreakable bond with her and would do anything for her safety." She raised her hand and flicked away her bangs that were hanging in front of her eyes in a fast and confident movement. With that move she seemed also to have waved away her temporary shyness which now left a serious and confident Sheena in front of an astonished and confused Lloyd, "But…" he began, but Sheena continued.

"When I saw that determination in your eyes at the Renegade Base when I told you that there might be a way for Colette to recover… I felt powerless as my last brink of hope of being with you disappeared into the void…"

"But I still don't understand," Lloyd interrupted her before she could continue on. "Why are you still jealous of her? I mean… if you were jealous of her because you thought that I liked Colette then it should all be over now since I confessed that I liked you."

Sheena crossed her arms and leaned over to the railing of the balcony. The people below was really enjoying Altamira's night life as the city was completely different from what it is during the day.

"…Actually. I'm still thinking about that. Why do I still feel a tiny but sharp point of jealousy towards her? I actually can't think of anything major but… can it be that bond I know you have? That she has known you for a longer time and maybe knows you better than me? Am I scared of losing you to her? I… I don't know, I can't even seem to answer those questions myself." She tightened her hands as she felt a small pain from her nails pointing down into her clothes.

Lloyd wrapped his arms around her she let go of herself as she was surprised of the surprise hug.

"I may not be able to answer those questions your way, so I'll answer those questions how I would do. Colette is only a very dear childhood friend of mine and only because she has known me for a longer time doesn't mean that she knows me better than you. I promise that I will always stand by your side to protect you."

"That's what I want to believe as well…" Sheena whispered quietly.

He leaned forward and whispered in her ear, "That's what I believe. Trust me, and if you let me I will try to earn your trust that I will always be there for you. I swear on my life to make you happy and remove all your doubts."

He heard her whimper softly as she breathing made sharp sounds, "…what's your definition of happy? Are our definition of happiness even the same?"

"I wish for your happiness, I wish for the best of your life as well as a bright future and good health. As long as you get that, I'm happy."

"Lloyd, you… you don't have too you know…"

Then without warning Lloyd made a rushed movement that made Sheena almost fall over from the impact when their lips met. He wasn't really thinking when he moved towards her but now when the action had already been made it was no like he could rewind. As her mind travelled back to her after being knocked away, she couldn't do anything else but wait for Lloyd´s next move. It felt like forever as the awkward silence nailed its fingers on them and their grip becoming more and more painful. His hasty move had now left him in a gauche position and now was left wondering what his next move would be. He tilted his head a little to the right to soften the kiss and to save their noses that had been crushed against each other. Sheena then shifted her position to a more comfortable one and closed the last centimetres distant from their body by wrapping her arms around his neck. Lloyd then opened his mouth a little to breathe and she took that as a sign that he wanted to continue so she followed in doing so. Sheena carefully slid her tongue in but that was not so delightful for Lloyd at first who almost bit her tongue when it entered. She was dominant at first when he wasn't really sure that he liked this new act, but when she slowed down a little and let him go on in his own pace he started to appreciate it. The new sensation of physical contact and warmth sent some paroxysm of lust through Lloyd's body and to control his hands he moved his hand upward from her shoulders to her neck. With his fingers caught up in her wet hair it would be hard for his hand just to slip down and grab something inappropriate.

Though being very inexperienced as a kisser, their kiss was very sensual. The bliss inside her blossomed out and spread a warm tingling feeling throughout her body.

When she later would think back to this kiss she would remember the warmth from his body and the bliss blooming through her whole body. As well as laugh at Lloyd's inexperience and shyness, it would still be something she would remember.

Lloyd pulled suddenly back in the middle of things for being startled by a loud noise. Sheena, that also had heard it but wasn't really bothered by it was now slightly irritated about him pulling back and killing off their moment. It was Lloyd after all, she knew he was a master of interrupting moments but that would be something that she would never really get used to.

"Whoa…" he said with his voice full of amazement. "Are those… fireworks?"

Sheena looked out in to the dark sky which exploded in all the different colours of the rainbow.

"Yeah," Sheena sighed dreamingly, before looking at Lloyd. "Please don't tell me you don't have fireworks in Sylvarant too…"

His face was suffused in a red colour, from either blushing or from the fireworks.

"O…Of course we have! We're not that behind times!"

"I'd like to think so myself but have you forgotten? I've been in Sylvarant too. I've seen all kinds of things that you still use as a part of daily life that we in Tethe'alla only see as the antique times…"

His face was still red even though the light from the blue firework.

'_Definitely blushing' _Sheena thought to herself. She watched the reflections of the fireworks in Lloyd's eyes which were wide of amazement. His mouth was also slightly open Sheena then went a little giddy when she thought about their kiss earlier. He turned to her direction and looked slightly puzzled, "Why are you giggling?"

"Nah, it's nothing," she smiled and leaned her arms onto the balcony rail. Lloyd slightly shrugged his shoulders before going back to watching the fireworks. She then noticed that he had moved closer and placed his arm around her. She sighed happily as she snuggled in to his shoulder.

It was a moment that wasn't going to be broken by some lame line coming from Lloyd or a stupid answer for a question he didn't understand. It was only them in the room, in Altamira, in the whole universe and no one would ever be able to take it away from them. As if the time had stopped and the fireworks were infinite, there existed no tomorrow for them or yesterday as well. The present was the only thing that mattered, the time they shared together. As he held her with a grip as if he was never going to let her go, his promises went on and on in her head as they were imprinted with ink on her heart.

Altamira was truly a place for lovers to see.

"Did you hear Zelos screaming for help just now?"

"… No."

'_I knew I was too fast in jumping in to conclusions that Lloyd had become more mature…'_Sheena thought and sighed.

* * *

_Lloyd… _

_A stubborn guy that struggles to be acknowledged as an adult. But with a childlike innocence like his it's hard to call him mature when he grins like that. I'm still confused over how he can maintain that innocence despite being through all that hardship…_

_He's still a child with a latent maturity and a tough past._

_A too kind person who can win people hearts by merely speaking of his ideals. _

_Though with difficulties to understand math and other subjects in school, he has absolutely no problems with understanding other people feelings and what their heart desires. _

_I… I feel like I would follow you anywhere. I couldn't care less about what anyone says or think about me as long as I have you by my side…_

"_I…I wanna be with you…"_

"_S__…sure. I wanna be with you too."_

~おわり/End


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